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Nikon D700 + Zeiss 100mm f/2 — ¹/1000 sec, f/2, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Autumn
Eikando Temple Gardens, Kyoto Japan

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I visited today the Eikando Temple gardens, nestled in the base of the mountains at the far east of Kyoto, about a 15-minute walk from our place. I'd been there before and thought it was really pretty, but I must have been stupid or blind (or on parenting duty with an impatient kid to look after) because today it was FREAKING MIND-BLOWING AMAZING.

Just *WOW*.

My photos don't even come close to doing it justice.

Nikon D700 + Zeiss 100mm f/2 — ¹/1250 sec, f/2, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Expansive
view above the temple's preschool

The temple is famous for its fall colors, as I found out the first time I drove by during the proper season, posted in “Colorful Leaves and Colorful Kimono”, of kimono-clad ladies congregating at the entrance to the temple's preschool. Visiting the preschool was my main goal today, as we were again invited to their “Fall-Color Festival” by one of Anthony's friends (the same festival is the subject of “Anthony and Friends Among the Colors” from two years ago).

Nikon D700 + Zeiss 100mm f/2 — ¹/400 sec, f/2, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Apex

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The visit two years ago resulted in “Bonanza of Fall-Foliage Desktop Backgrounds”, but we were with Anthony and some of his friends, so I couldn't really spend much time in the temple gardens during that visit. This year, we spent some time at the festival in the morning and then left for mass, after which I left Fumie and Anthony at home and returned to explore the gardens at my leisure.

Nikon D700 + Zeiss 100mm f/2 — ¹/800 sec, f/2, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Nap

It was heavily overcast in the afternoon, eventually starting to rain while we were there (in the afternoon, I met a camera-toting friend visiting from The States). But the cloud cover made the photography all the better, I think.

Nikon D700 + Zeiss 100mm f/2 — ¹/320 sec, f/2, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
Overlook

The temple is the most expensive to visit that I've ever seen (1,000 yen – about $12 – to enter), and on a day like today was worth every single yen.

Nikon D700 + Zeiss 100mm f/2 — ¹/320 sec, f/2, ISO 280 — map & image data — nearby photos
Emerging

In the evening they light up everything with flood lamps, which brings out the crowds yet again, but it, too, is pretty, as I wrote in last year's “How I Spent My Saturday in Kyoto” and “More From the Eikando Temple Foliage Lightup”

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 58 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/5.6, ISO 3600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Verticals

Nikon D700 + Zeiss 100mm f/2 — ¹/320 sec, f/2, ISO 1250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Neapolitan

Nikon D700 + Zeiss 100mm f/2 — ¹/320 sec, f/2, ISO 1400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Canopies

Nikon D700 + Zeiss 100mm f/2 — ¹/320 sec, f/2, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
“Mini Sanctuary”
hey, that's what it says

Nikon D700 + Zeiss 100mm f/2 — ¹/320 sec, f/2, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Peeking, Peaking

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 35 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/5.6, ISO 2800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Calm Above the Fray

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 38 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/5.6, ISO 3600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Secluded

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 44 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/2.8, ISO 900 — map & image data — nearby photos
Big Bang

Nikon D700 + Zeiss 100mm f/2 — ¹/320 sec, f/2, ISO 360 — map & image data — nearby photos
Kusaridoi
Holy Cow, This is Beautiful
rain-spout type things, like these and these

These 15 photos are just about the first 15 photos I took. Not quite, but almost, save for a bout of testing the exposure.... I still feel I'm fighting the D700's desire to overexpose, and most of these were taken with -1EV exposure compensation.

I haven't even gone through most of the 157 photos from the day, but even just these, full size on a high-quality (high-gamut) monitor... wow, my head wants to explode.

I wanted to include Desktop-Background versions of most of these, but gave up after spending a couple of hours trying to get the requisite Photoshop script working on my new Mac. Must eventually figure it out and revisit these.

Continued here...